


in her steps, a flourishing.

by starlistic



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, basically aqua lands in destiny islands instead of the dark world because she deserves better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-11 09:29:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17444294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlistic/pseuds/starlistic
Summary: Instead of falling into the realm of darkness, Aqua falls into a world of light.





	1. Chapter 1

A distant whoop breaks through the quiet, stirring Aqua from her sleep.

 

She doesn’t open her eyes just yet, though. The wind and waves cradling her are comfortably sun-warmed, if unfamiliarly salty, and she hasn’t felt this peaceful since leaving home. It reminds her of nights spent stargazing on lush grasses and days spent roughhousing under a watchful eye, comfortable and safe.

 

But the Land of Departure has never bordered a beach or filled the air with seabird cries. As much as it soothes her heart to rest here, this isn’t her home. She can’t stay.

 

She needs to find Terra again. She needs to wake Ven from his sleep.

 

She needs to get up.

 

Aqua cracks open an eye to the sight of a calm beach, fine sand pillowing her cheek. She faintly recognizes the shoreline and the trees further inland — she’s been here before, not too long ago. But when she tries to push herself up to get a better look, all of her wounds immediately flare up, painfully reminding her that the last thing she’d done was fight an awful, awful battle. Battling her possessed best friends had left injuries both physical and mental, despite her victories.

 

Habit more than conscious thought drives her to whisper a soft _curaga_ beneath her breath, ethereal bells and flowers blooming overhead for a moment. Some of the aching ebbs as the green light knits her wounds closed, and a bit of the tension in her shoulders melts away.

 

Once the spell runs its course, Aqua carefully sits upright. Her limbs twinge but hold only an echo of the pain, easily ignorable.

 

But before she can do anything else, quick footsteps come pattering across the sand. Aqua looks up sharply, tense and fully aware that the last thing she remembers is falling into the darkness — but the steps come to a stop a couple paces from her with little gasps. It’s just a couple of kids.

 

Actually, she recognizes them, which is both strange and a strong indicator that she’s _not_ in the realm of darkness.

 

“It’s you!” the brown-haired boy exclaims. “Hello!”

 

“Hello,” she says, mildly baffled. The specks of light that had been coalescing around her fingers dissipate quickly as she relaxes. There’s no threat here. “You’re… Sora and Riku, right?”

 

The boys nod, Sora in excitement, Riku with curiosity.

 

Riku asks, “Where are you from?” but his eyes look like they already know the answer.

 

“Far away,” Aqua says, elusive. He still reminds her of Terra, but her amusement at the thought is threaded with worry. She… _did_ save him, right? The dark guardian at his back had dissolved, she remembers that much. And the rain-like drumming of Stormfall on the roof of her soul is missing, which means it must still be with Terra, so he’s not truly alone. That alone affords her some measure of hope. She smiles a little and says, “But I’m just stopping by. I need to find my friends.”

 

Sora perks up. “Maybe we can help! Nobody else really comes here much besides us, but maybe people on the main island have seen them. What’re their names?”

 

“Terra and Ven. Terra’s a little older than me, but Ven’s a little younger,” she says. Honestly, she doesn’t expect her friends to be found here, especially since Ven’s in the locked Land of Departure, but it couldn’t hurt to cover her bases. Terra could very well be anywhere, since Aqua emerged on an island she’d only visited once for no clear reason.

 

Actually, she isn’t sure why or how she escaped the darkness in the first place. Diving into the shadows around Terra should’ve pulled her into the dark realm for sure, once she gave up Stormfall and her armor to save him… She suspects it has something to do with the steady pulse of Master’s Defender behind her heart, or maybe the glistening wayfinder tied to her sash. Either way, she’s grateful. Being stuck in the realm of darkness would suck.

 

“Terra and Ven,” Sora echoes thoughtfully. “Okay, I’ll keep an eye out for him!”

 

“Thank you.” That’s all she could ask for. Aqua rises to her feet, brushing some sand from her clothes.

 

Riku, quick to pick up on her intention to leave, peers up at her with poorly concealed disappointment. “Are you going already?” He looks every inch the eager boy Terra had once been, pressing at the borders of the world, leaping at any chance to escape. Eraqus had once berated his pupils for that eagerness, long ago, but Aqua can’t bring herself to do the same. Riku adds, “You should come with us and talk to the grownups, so they can do search parties for your friends.”

 

“I think I can count on you two for that,” Aqua says gently. No need to raise awareness about people who don’t usually exist here, and she’d hate to draw darkness by disturbing the walls between worlds. A couple of kids would be fine, especially since one of them is Terra’s successor (he has to return and check on the boy _sometime,_ of course), but adults don’t normally take it as well.

 

Summoning her keyblade with a flash of light, Aqua reaches for her arm — and stops.

 

She doesn’t have her armor.

 

She doesn’t have her armor, and she doesn’t have Stormfall. There’s no way she’d be safe from the darkness of the Lanes Between without them. With just Stormfall, she could be quick enough to just dart through, or with just the armor, she’d be shielded enough to carefully pick her path. But without either…

 

Master’s Defender is capable of a glider mode, she knows, but Eraqus rarely used it. She’s doesn’t know if it would even respond to her, not to mention that relying on an unfamiliar keyblade in such a dangerous place without any protection is a very bad idea.

 

And that means she’s _stuck._ Until she feels comfortable enough with Master’s Defender or gets her armor back, she can’t leave this world.

 

Aqua drops her arm from where she’d been about to activate her absent armor. Her keyblade also dissipates from her hand, bringing a spark of wonder to the two boys’ eyes as they watch the weapon vanish. “Actually,” Aqua says, her expression shifting to something wry, “if you’d like, I… I guess could stay a while.”

 

Riku’s marked for inheritance, anyway. Might as well train him a little while she’s here, so he knows how to defend himself and his loved ones when he grows older. There aren’t any other Masters for him to learn from, after all, with Eraqus dead and Xehanort vanquished.

 

It’s Sora’s radiant smile that sells it, though. He beams at her with such sincere delight that she’s sorely reminded of Ven. “Come with us to the main island, then. We can show you around!”

 

“Not yet,” Riku protests. “We just got here, we can play a while first.”

 

Sora looks conflicted at that, torn between the need to help out and the need to play, but Aqua laughs and ruffles his hair. “Go ahead,” she says. “I’ll be here.”

 

“Do you want to play with us?” he asks, tentative.

 

“Maybe next time. You can go on with Riku.”

 

“Okay! We’ll be back later.” Sora grins at her, yelps when Riku jabs him impatiently, and then shouts a quick, “Bye, Aqua!” before he scrambles after his friend. Both of them dart off deeper inland, chasing each other along the path.

 

Aqua waits until they’re well out of sight, and then lets the smile slip from her face as she looks to her hands. Master’s Defender reappears in a wash of light, all glistening metal and steady pulsing like a heart behind her own, calm and reassuring.

 

 _Hold on, Ven,_ she thinks. _I’ll be back soon. I’m sorry, but it’ll be just a little bit longer._

 

* * *

 

If there’s one thing Aqua knows, it’s that keyblade wielders — even wielders to-be, like Riku — have a penchant for trouble. Just because he isn’t quite as heavy-hitting as Terra (yet) doesn’t mean he wreaks any less havoc than her friend once did. He’s just quicker and more subtle about it.

 

Thankfully, she also knows several tried and true ways of putting that troublemaking energy to good use instead of letting it run rampant, thanks to growing up under Eraqus’ tutelage. When the three full-time pupils pushed his patience to the limit, their Master would simply exhaust them with practice drills so they didn’t have the energy to incite any more chaos. Aqua hopes the same could be said for her two part-time pupils.

 

Yes, two. She’d decided against separating Riku and Sora, even though she only expects the former to inherit a keyblade. Splitting them would only decay their friendship, which Aqua actively tries to avoid. Besides, sparring tends to be the best route to exhausting all that energy, and more options open up when she invites the two to work as a team.

 

It doesn’t take much convincing to start up the training sessions, probably because of the excitement of having someone new to cross blades with.

 

Metaphorically, that is. They’re nowhere near experienced enough to justify pulling her actual keyblade on them. Barehanded works just fine.

 

Aqua actually finds herself enjoying the challenge of teaching. Some of the tension in her shoulders loosens as she catches Riku’s attack and flips him right into Sora with perfect precision, sending the kids tumbling head-over-heels in the soft sand. They let out a few muffled grunts before untangling themselves, rolling to their feet a little more quickly than the last time she’d dropped them.

 

Sora shakes some sand from his hair, and then squints at his lightly scraped elbow before dismissing the scratch as unimportant. “I wasn’t ready that time!” he protests indignantly.

 

“Then stay out of range,” Aqua says, amused. “You were in the splash zone, and that makes you a fair target. Try again.”

 

With a fake pout, Sora obligingly readies himself. Riku just huffs good-naturedly and hefts his wooden sword, nodding to Sora before trying to circle around while his friend lunges forward to distract her.

 

Unfortunately for them, Aqua’s fought too many hordes of unversed to be caught off-guard by a two-sided attack, but she commends the thought. She sidesteps Sora’s quick blitz, shoving his shoulder as he lands to test his balance (he wobbles, but doesn’t fall over; better), and glimpses silver rushing in from the corner of her eye as Riku seizes his chance.

 

Aqua rotates half a turn and deftly grabs Riku’s wrist as he comes within range, pulling him around her to redirect his sliding dash before letting go. As he stumbles, she debates knocking his legs out from beneath him, but Sora darts in to draw her attention first, rushing into his own sliding dash that _just_ misses the fluttering edge of her sash as she hops away.

 

“Good try,” she calls, but Sora remains undaunted and tries to sliding dash at her again. He’s now a bit too close to pull it off properly, lacking the momentum to exert a forceful hit, so Aqua knocks his wooden blade aside with ease.

 

Caught off balance, Sora almost drops his sword, but manages to catch himself at the last moment. He shifts his weight between his feet as though deliberating, glancing around to check Riku’s position, twisting his grip on his weapon, and then his eyes narrow and he leaps forward.

 

That’s a backhanded grip, wait, she didn’t teach him that—

 

A _familiar_ blitz crashes down in front of Aqua, not as quick as memory recalls, not as controlled, but she reflexively cartwheels away from the next two strikes, digging her heels into the sand to steady herself when she comes up again. She stares at the young boy, this person who grins back at her with fever-pitch energy and endless brilliance and a reverse grip and the sunset in his hair like spun gold, and all she can think to say is, “Ven?”

 

Her voice wavers, as does his grin. Ven — or just Sora? — cocks his head to the side. “Aqua?” he replies, hesitant.

 

That could mean anything.

 

Brows furrowed, Aqua stares at this face she knows twice over, trying to understand the inexplicable pang of joy in her chest. Her eyes disagree with her heart, her _mind_ disagrees with her heart, and yet...

 

Riku blinks, and then looks around in vain. There’s nobody else on the play island. “Ven? Where?” he asks.

 

Where indeed. Aqua pauses for a moment, and then shakes her head to clear it. It’s probably just a trick of the eye, or an illusion of the heart. Something she sees because she wants to, not because it’s actually there. “Never mind,” she says briskly. “I was just reminded of him. Sora, are you familiar with a backhanded grip?”

 

Sora, looking puzzled, glances down at his hand. “Um. No? I wasn’t really thinking,” he says, changing back to a normal grip. In doing so, he erases most of the phantom similarities between him and Ven, and Aqua reluctantly pushes those thoughts aside for later contemplation. It’s probably nothing. Sora picks at the wooden blade, looking concerned and sheepish, as though he thinks he’s in trouble. “Is it bad?”

 

“No, not at all,” Aqua reassures. “It does use different forms, though. We can work on it some other time, if you want, but let’s focus on regular grips for now.”

 

“Okay!” He brightens, worries forgotten, as he bounces in place. “We almost got you that time, though!”

 

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Aqua chuckles. “But you are getting better.” Visibly so, at that. They’re putting their newly learned attacks to good practice, tightening their movements instead of just swinging wildly at an opponent, and while their initial stances haven’t changed much, their execution has definitely improved. “Another round, and then we’ll be done for the day. Watch your distance in that sliding dash, Sora.”

 

He nods, eagerly falling into a prepared stance as he exchanges nods with Riku. “Got it.”

 

* * *

 

A month into her stay at Destiny Islands, Aqua grows anxious.

 

She sits on the dock of the main island, Master’s Defender warm in her hand. It’s late; nobody’s around to see the mystical weapon, so she feels comfortable enough to lay it across her lap as she watches the night unfurl. All worlds share the same sky, she recalls, but only one patch of stars in this expanse are familiar to her. They point towards Olympus Coliseum, a world on the barest fringes of the starmaps she’s studied.

 

Aqua finds herself wondering how the residents of that world are faring. Is Zack still training there, with Hercules and Phil? Is Hades still scheming?

 

There’s no way for her to know. She doesn’t know _anything_ about what’s going on in the worlds outside, not about Zack or Cinderella or 626 or Mickey or Terra. Her fingers tighten on her keyblade and she looks back down at it, pensive.

 

She’d tried to transform Master’s Defender into its glider form the other day. It hadn’t worked, and despite her persistent efforts, it still hasn’t changed forms. It has not transformed at all, in fact, which is greatly worrying and currently the source of her troubles. She can feel its pulse and knows it’s not inert or rejecting her or anything — in fact, it delights in her magical prowess and recently taught her to Bind with chains of molten gold — but she doesn’t know why it refuses to change shape.

 

Keyblades are willful, picky things, but usually not to this extent. Aqua runs her fingers over its gleaming metal and whispers, “What am I doing wrong?”

 

No response. She wasn’t really expecting one anyway, and sighs. Maybe it just needs time.

 

Aqua flicks the keyblade to the side, testing once more for good measure, but it still doesn’t transform. With that, she gets to her feet and dismisses it at last, deciding to turn in for the night.

 

Before she even leaves the docks, however, a little figure stumbles across her path. The spiky hair is too familiar to ignore, even half-hidden in the dark.

 

“Sora?” she calls, incredulous. It must be midnight by now, or close to it. “What are you doing here? Are you on your own?” She approaches quickly, crouching with a hand hovering just over his shoulder.

 

When he looks up at her, her breath catches in her chest — his eyes are a familiar blue, but also too-familiar _blank_ in a way that rattles all of her old alarms about his state. About _Ven’s_ state, back when he’d first come to the castle, blank and empty and lost in ways only loss of heart could be responsible for.

 

“Aqua? I got a — I had a nightmare,” he says, and it’s Sora’s voice but it cracks in a way that’s all Ven in Aqua’s earliest memory of him, back before he built himself up from the pieces he’d been left in. She’d hoped never to hear that kind of hesitance again.

 

“It’s okay,” she soothes, but when she looks him over, her eyes keep skipping upward as though expecting someone a little taller, a little older. She forcefully tears her gaze downward, telling herself to focus. This is Sora. “You’re fine. It’s late, though, you should go to bed. Your parents are going to worry, Sora.”

 

He shakes his head, reaching out to grab her sleeve. “Nightmare. ’S cold. Freezing. And I saw you,” he adds, insistent. “I saw you and another, but you were standing, just standing there, and then he came down from the sky and you fell. I didn’t know if you were okay, or if he got you, but I had to find out, ’n look—” He breaks off, breath quickening.

 

Hearing that, Aqua stills. Ice crawls through her veins as she _remembers_ this nightmare. She‘d been there for it, and she remembers Ven frozen in her arms, remembers fighting, remembers looking up an instant too late before Vanitas plunged from the sky with his keyblade drawn and.

 

But why would that scene plague Sora’s dreams? Unless…

 

Sora shivers, and regardless of what’s going on, Aqua knows he should be in bed right now. She reaches down to pick him up and take him home. To her surprise, he doesn’t fight her on it. He’s smaller than Ven ever was, easy to lift onto her back, quick to wrap his arms around her neck. Aqua starts making her way towards his house. “You’re going to catch a cold like this, Sora. I… I’m fine. You need to go home now, but you’ll see me tomorrow.”

 

“Promise?” Sora asks.

 

Aqua thinks of what Yen Sid said about hearts and light guiding Ven’s heart back from wherever it had fled. It seems like she, Terra, and Mickey hadn’t been the only ones to show him the way.

 

Gently, she nods. “I promise.”

 

* * *

 

It’s a good thing Aqua decided to train Sora alongside Riku.

 

Something in the glimmer of their hearts beside hers resonates with Master’s Defender in her chest. Not just Riku, but Sora too — they _both_ have the potential to become keybearers.

 

She isn’t sure when that happened; she hadn’t checked them since her first arrival, which was back before the fights in the Keyblade Graveyard.

 

“Riku,” Aqua calls, making the boy pause in his drills and look up at her. “Do you remember... Has anyone ever let you hold a weapon like this?” She manifests Master’s Defender to demonstrate, grabbing the the teethed end and holding the hilt outward, as though offering it.

 

Recognition immediately flashes over Riku’s expression. “Yeah,” he says. “He had brown hair. And his sword was kind of brown or gold? Not like yours. He said it was a secret or else the magic would go away, but… you know it already, so I guess it’s okay.”

 

Aqua can’t help but smile. “Don’t worry, it won’t go away. The magic doesn’t work like that. But… must have been Terra, then.” She’d supposed as much, but the confirmation is nice. To have Riku keep the bequeathing a secret… Maybe that‘s Terra’s way of being thoughtful to the worlds’ borders. Aqua turns towards Sora, who looks equal parts curious and confused. “Sora, what about you?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Did anyone bequeath you? Give you a key to hold?”

 

Sora scrunches up his face for a moment, thinking, and then shakes his head. “Uh-uh. I don’t even remember Riku meeting that other guy.”

 

“You were there, you just ran ahead,” Riku reminds. Sora perks up.

 

“Oh yeah! I won the race that time!”

 

“Only because I was talking with someone. Terra, right?” Riku looks to Aqua, who nods. “Yeah, so I stopped to talk with Terra. Doesn’t count!”

 

“Does too!” Sora counters.

 

Aqua laughs, waving a hand to distract them and stop the argument from devolving further. “Okay — more importantly, Sora, about that nightmare you had. Have you had other nightmares like it?”

 

It’s Riku’s turn to look curious and confused. Sora shuffles his feet a bit and shrugs, his mood somewhat dampened by the topic. “Sometimes. I forget them really fast once I get up, so I just get the feeling that I’m scared and lonely. But they’re not always nightmares.”

 

“What do you dream when they’re not nightmares?”

 

“Sometimes I see pretty rooms and big halls, or I just run around and look at the sky. Um, I think there was one when I was talking to people, but I don’t know who. It’s hard to remember,” Sora says.

 

Aqua hums, realizing that while the described scenes could line up with Ven’s memories, they’re also vague enough that… Well, not last night’s nightmare. That was pretty specific to Ven and Ven alone. “I see.”

 

“Sorry for scaring you,” Sora offers, but Aqua shakes her head.

 

“No, don’t be, it’s fine. Actually — this might explain some things. Here, put the swords aside for a moment,” she adds, walking a little further inland. “It’s going to be a long tale, but I think you should hear it.”

 

Riku looks at Sora, and then back to her. “Me too?”

 

“Of course.” Aqua sits on a ledge, beckoning for them to join her. As they do, she continues, “You know when I told you that my sword is unique to me, and that’s why it’s magic? That’s not quite true.”

 

Master’s Defender sings beneath her skin that this is _right,_ that this path is the one to follow.

 

Aqua smiles. “It’s called a keyblade.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Sora found a girl washed up on the beach yesterday,” Riku says, digging the point of his wooden sword into the ground idly. “Kind of like you, but she’s our age.”

 

Aqua pauses halfway through picking sand out of a seashell, a brow raised. Hopefully not _actually_ like her; she’d ended up on the beach because she’d somehow escaped the darkness. To think that a kid might have gone through the same thing… Aqua hopes it’s maybe just the case of a shipwreck, but knowing keybearers’ luck, it’s probably something stranger.

 

“Is she alright?” Aqua asks.

 

“Uh-huh. She woke up, so they’re asking her questions at the mayor’s place, I think.”

 

She makes a contemplative noise and continues cleaning out the shell. “I hope they get things sorted out. It must be scary for her, waking up so far from home.”

 

Riku looks up at her, eyes oddly keen for a boy so young. “How about you?”

 

Aqua blinks. “What about — oh.” She chuckles, putting the seashell aside for a moment. She’s pretty far from home, too, not that the Land of Departure is much of a home when it’s empty of all life. “Don’t worry about me, I’m adaptable.” Technically, she’s closer to home _here,_ where Ven’s heart is. Still no idea where Terra’s at, though… What’s taking him so long? It’s been already been a year.

 

He’d better check back soon, or Aqua will end up training his legacy all the way to Master before he even gets here. She clicks her tongue at the thought, but her amusement quickly fades to worry. She hopes he’s not fretting too much over her absence and Ven’s status. Surely Yen Sid would explain the situation about Ven, at least.

 

Unless Terra goes to the Land of Departure first and gets lost in its strange halls, now that Aqua’s sealed the place. Even she doesn’t know what that really means, just that Eraqus had been very, very certain that nobody would be able to navigate it but her.

 

Riku stares at her for a moment, and then drops his gaze. Guilt flashes over his expression for a moment, like he’s somehow responsible for the mess she’s in.

 

Does he think he’s part of the islands holding her back or something? Wanting to nip that kind of thinking in the bud, Aqua reaches out to set a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault,” she says. “It’s not anyone’s fault but mine for being reckless. But I don’t regret it, Riku. My friends are safe, I get to train up the next couple of keyblade wielders, nobody’s in danger… All around, it’s not the worst situation to be in.”

 

It’s not the best, either, but no need to tell him that. Riku seems to mull this over for a second, and then nods hesitantly.

 

“Hey!” Sora’s voice calls, and both of them look up to see the kid sprinting along the path towards them.

 

Aqua waves as he approaches. “You’re late, Sora.”

 

“Sorry.” He skids to a stop beside them, beaming. Even Riku poking him with his wooden sword doesn’t dampen his excitement. “Someone washed up on the shore yesterday, and I wanted to make sure she was okay, so I went to the mayor’s house. The grown-ups said she’s gonna be fine, but she forgot a lot of stuff.”

 

Aqua, abruptly reminded of her initial encounter with Ven, echoes, “She forgot?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Riku cocks his head to the side. “Like… her name?”

 

“Oh, no, she remembers that. Her name’s Kairi!” Sora chirps. “She doesn’t know what island she’s from, though. Or what ship she was on. Things like that.”

 

“Wait, her name’s Kairi?” Aqua says, and Sora nods. She frowns, trying to think back, because she knows she’s heard that name before. But where? Not during her year of experiences on this world, no, but somewhere else… A different world. She almost dismisses the thought, because people don’t often cross between worlds, but a memory jumps out at her: a little girl — bright-hearted, picking flowers.

 

Radiant Garden. She’d enchanted the child’s necklace, to protect such a pure light from encroaching darkness.

 

Aqua’s eyes widen. But Radiant Garden’s a ways off from Destiny Islands, how did she end up on this world? Unless something horrible happened in her home world… It’s not as though a well-intentioned keybearer would take her through the Lanes Between only to abandon her on a beach.

 

The fact that she doesn’t remember much about the world she’s from is concerning as well. Ven forgot his past because of trauma to the heart, so if her amnesia is anything like his, trouble must be brewing.

 

“Do you know her?” Sora asks.

 

“I might,” Aqua says carefully, quashing the sudden realization that she actually does hate being stuck out of the loop of what’s going on between the worlds. “I hope not, because the Kairi I know lived very far away.”

 

Riku perks up. “You mean, a whole different world kind of far?”

 

“Yes. I don’t know how she could’ve gotten here, though.” Aqua purses her lips for a moment, and then glances over to Sora. “Do you think you could introduce us to her, Sora?”

 

“Sure!” He brightens. “She’ll be happy to have some friends around. Do you wanna go now?”

 

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

 

* * *

 

As it turns out, it is in fact the Kairi that Aqua remembers. But she barely remembers Aqua, never mind Radiant Garden or how she found herself on an entirely different world.

 

“You look familiar, but I don’t remember meeting you,” Kairi says, hesitant. “And everything before waking up is kind of blurry. Sorry.”

 

Aqua smiles gently. “It’s alright, don’t push yourself. More importantly, are you feeling all right?”

 

Kairi nods, more sure of herself now. “They said they’ll call in the healer again if I feel sick or anything, but I’m fine. The only thing I have are these,” she says, and raises her forearms. They’re heavily bruised, alarmingly in the pattern of hands grabbing tightly onto her. Aqua sucks in a breath through her teeth as Kairi continues, “I don’t remember where I got them, but the mayor thinks it’s from someone trying to pull me out of the water.”

 

Or out of your world, Aqua doesn’t say. She doesn’t want to tell Kairi that she’s _that_ far from home, reluctant to instill that kind of distress. Instead, she asks, “Does it hurt?”

 

“Only when I touch it.”

 

Sora pipes up, explaining, “The grownups put something on it to help, but it’s still gonna take forever to heal. Do you think you could…?” He makes a vague blooming gesture, looking to Aqua pleadingly.

 

She assumes he means Cure. She’s demonstrated some magic for the boys before, when they misjudge their strength and injure themselves in training.

 

Honestly, Aqua had been planning on Curing those bruises since laying eyes on them, so she’s quick to agree. It unsettles and infuriates her that someone would harm a child of light like this, but she redirects her focus from that anger to her spellwork. “Mind if I take a look?” she asks Kairi, crouching as the little girl nods.

 

Aqua lightly takes Kairi’s hands in hers, making sure to avoid touching the bruised sections. This close, it’s clear that she’d been grabbed quite tightly — perhaps against her will. Some blurriness in the fingers implies she’d struggled and forced whoever it was to rearrange their grip, too. “Curaga,” Aqua intones sharply, pulling her mind away from her rising rage and pouring as much power as she dares into the spell.

 

Familiar green light ripples over Kairi’s arms and the bruises fade almost immediately as a blossom briefly manifests overhead, petals spread. All three kids quiet for a moment in awe of the display, captivated by the slowly ebbing glow, Kairi especially since it’s her first experience with one of Aqua’s active spells.

 

And speaking of spells, Aqua takes a moment to check the enchantment on Kairi’s necklace before dropping her hands. The magic’s gone. Depleted, she assumes, from whatever it is the spell did to bring her to Destiny Islands.

 

Come to think of it, her wayfinder had been the same, though she’s long since re-enchanted it. Aqua makes a note to do the same for Kairi’s necklace later, once her mana recharges. “That should be better,” she says.

 

“Was that magic?” Kairi asks, looking to her arms with surprise. She prods at the healed skin and looks thrilled when it doesn’t hurt at a touch anymore.

 

“Yes. It’s a useful spell, but let’s keep it between the four of us here, alright?” Aqua’s magical prowess isn’t well-known on the islands. She’s been concealing such outstanding abilities, keeping attention away by appearing as average as possible, so that when she inevitably leaves, she won’t be questioned or missed so much by people she can’t explain the worlds to.

 

Abruptly healing Kairi of all her ailments doesn’t exactly help that cover, but Aqua will gladly throw everything she’s tried to maintain into the trash to keep these children healthy and safe.

 

“Aqua’s really good with magic,” Sora stage-whispers, grinning wide.

 

Kairi flexes her fingers, still awed. “Do you think I could learn something like that?”

 

“In time, maybe,” Aqua says.

 

“Maybe we could train together?” Riku prompts, which is a good idea. Kairi’s exceptional light should learn to defend itself, whether or not she holds a keyblade.

 

Aqua pauses, and then checks the blazing light of Kairi’s heart. It doesn’t seem too different from before, just as strong and pure, which is reassuring. There is a little change, though — a metallic shimmer where there hadn’t been before, a smooth singing of wrought metal pressing at the edge of her senses. It’s almost familiar.

 

 _Another_ potential keybearer from nowhere. What’s going on?

 

“There’s a bit of a history lesson on what you’re learning first, but if you’d like to join us, we’d be glad to have you,” Aqua tells her.

 

“I’d love to!” Kairi wiggles to the edge of her seat, excited.

 

Sora blinks. “History lesson? You mean on the — the keys? I thought that was a secret thing.” He whispers _secret thing_ as though Kairi can’t hear anyway by virtue of being a foot away from him.

 

“It still is,” Aqua says, and looks around. The mayor’s still out (he’d trusted her enough to keep the kids in line without his own supervision), but he could be back at any time.

 

Good thing she can dismiss Master’s Defender within the blink of an eye. She summons it anyway, taking comfort in the cool metal as it settles in her grip.

 

Kairi gasps in what could be surprise or delight, and Sora and Riku huddle in closer, eager to get a better look. They see the weapon plenty during training, when Aqua demonstrates, but being able to see it at rest is apparently a little different.

 

“Listen carefully now,” she says. “Kairi, you show potential to carry a very special key, just like Riku and Sora. This is mine, but one day, you’re going to get your own. They’re called keyblades.”

 

It’s not quite the full explanation, they don’t have time for that. Besides, Aqua wants to put off the explanation of the worlds for a little longer, just so Kairi can get her feet under her before she’s told that her original home is quite out of reach at the moment.

 

At least the locals here are welcoming. With any luck, Kairi will be able to live comfortably here while Aqua walks them through keyblade training and figures out what she’s going to do about what happened to Kairi.

 

Or, rather, _how_ she’s going to do it. Ideally, she’d seek out the root of the problem, eliminate it, and then return Kairi to her world, simple as that, but she can’t even accomplish step one if she doesn’t find a way to slip past this world’s barriers without falling into the darkness.

 

Master’s Defender has still refused to transform. Terra still hasn’t checked in on the boy he’d bequeathed.

 

It’s been over a _year._ At this rate, the Lanes Between will corrode into the shadows before she can leave. As a Master, she’s fully capable of sealing the Lanes to prevent such a thing — even without being able to traverse through them — but she doesn’t want to leave Terra stranded somewhere. He could probably open it up again on his own, but what if he can’t for some reason? Or what if he’s already stuck somewhere and needs help?

 

What if it’s not just because Master’s Defender isn’t _hers_ that it won’t transform? Are all keyblades currently refusing to change shape?

 

She has no way to know.

 

She hopes he’s okay.

 

* * *

 

The weeks trickle by, turning into months at an alarming rate. Aqua finds herself restless in a way she hasn’t been since before she learned to call Stormfall — still Rainfell, back then.

 

Her pupils must be rubbing off on her. They’re starting to get a little antsy as well, though she’s not sure who’s affecting who as far as that goes. It might as well be a perpetuating cycle.

 

“When can we summon our keyblades?” Riku asks, watching Sora and Kairi tussle in the sand. While Kairi doesn’t have the same experience with early swordplay that the islanders have, she’s a quick learner and is already keeping the other two pupils on their toes.

 

“I used to ask the same question,” Aqua says. She and Terra used to drive Master Eraqus nuts with that inquiry. He must’ve been so relieved when they finally got them, and again when Ven quickly regained his keyblade and effectively skipped the _when’s it gonna happen?_ phase altogether. “Honestly, it depends. Your keyblade decides when and how it wants to manifest, but it usually does so in response to your heart.”

 

Riku makes a contemplative noise. “It picks strong hearts, right? So I gotta be strong.”

 

“Strength of heart is different from strength in general,” Aqua reminds. “And even then, it’s not that clear cut. Normally they come when they’re needed, strange as that sounds. This world is… a rather peaceful one, so it may be a while. But it’ll come eventually.” She paused. “My Master said that patience was part of being strong of heart, but that might’ve just been something he said so we’d stop asking.”

 

While unappeased by this response, Riku seems to get the general idea; it’s not a solid deadline he can look forward to. He opens his mouth, about to ask something else — but a sharp yelp distracts him, and both he and Aqua look back to the two sparring in the sand.

 

Sora’s scrambling to a crouch, sand sticking to his side — he’d fallen, apparently — and wooden blade held in one hand. But there’s an intensity in his eyes that makes Aqua double-check the way he’s holding his weapon, wondering if this isn’t all Sora. Ven’s had nightmares through him before, though never while he’s awake.

 

It’s… still a normal grip.

 

“I didn’t think that would work,” Kairi says, utterly pleased with herself, but then she dives aside in a rushed dodge roll as Sora launches himself in a vicious lunge, his stance nothing like it’d been just a moment ago.

 

He whirls around, swinging his blade back, but Kairi’s already backed quite a few paces away, her expression unreadable from this distance. Aqua tenses, though she’s not sure what for.

 

“Sora? You’re not that upset over being tripped, are you, Sora?” Kairi calls.

 

Sora hesitates, and then shakes his head for a moment. “Course not,” he says, sliding easily back to his usual stance. “I’m just gonna get you back for it!”

 

Aqua shrugs off her undue apprehension. “Remember not to throw your whole weight like that, you’ll fall again!” she shouts.

 

“I only fell because she tripped me!” Sora protests, somewhat distracted as he parries Kairi’s next attack. She seems somewhat distracted herself, but only because she’s still snickering at her earlier success.

 

“I meant the retaliation, but yes, watch your feet too.”

 

Sora makes a vague sound of assent that makes Aqua think he’s not fully listening, probably because Kairi’s making a real effort to lock their swords together and trip him up again. If he doesn’t learn his lesson from Kairi going for that same strategy again, she’ll tell him later.

 

Keeping an eye on their progress, Aqua addresses Riku. “Did you have something else to ask?” She watches Sora trip and stumble — but he catches himself from falling this time, probably because it’s no longer a surprise tactic. Such a trick would really only work once or twice on an opponent, but Kairi seems undaunted and switches to a more evasive pattern of movement.

 

Riku seems to deliberate for a moment, and then Aqua sees him shake his head in the corner of her eye. “I’m good.”

 

“Alright. What do you see in this sparring?”

 

* * *

_It’s your fault she’s here, you know._

 

“No, it’s not. She said it’s not.”

 

_And you believe that? You’ve seen her face when she speaks of her friends. She wants to leave, but duty compels her to stay._

 

“Then I’m not keeping her here or anything, she wants to stay and help.”

 

_No, she_ **_needs_ ** _to stay. For you. For her dear pupils, who would be helpless without her._

 

“Stop it! We’re learning, that’s the whole point—”

 

_Not quickly enough, it seems. You want to get out, too. You know how it feels — trapped here, surrounded on all sides. Your Master endures it all just to give you more time. How long will you keep her waiting, I wonder?_

 

“I — we’re doing our best. You’re just a liar, go away.”

 

_I know the truth better than you ever could, boy. You will need help, and I will be here._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh hey, I actually got this out before midnight! nice.
> 
> anyway, who else is dying from trailers? me. I am.


	3. Chapter 3

The stars are blinking out.

 

That’s a distressing sign. As soon as Aqua notices the worlds disappearing, she makes sure to seal the Lanes Between, thinking that someone must be taking advantage of the open routes to wreak havoc — but she still catches sight of another star winking out the very next night.

 

Worse, she can’t do anything else about it until she gets Master’s Defender to cooperate.

 

“Terra,” she says to the sky, straining for any hint about what’s happening. Her wayfinder is clutched tightly in one hand, pressed to her chest. “Terra, please be okay.”

 

All she can do is hope. And train.

 

Eventually, she lets the kids handle Master’s Defender a little. She doesn’t sever her connection to it, the way she did with Stormfall, but it gives her pupils an idea of what to feel for, even though she doubts any of them will actually be summoning and wielding their own keys anytime soon.

 

The later, she thinks, the better. In the past, she believed one keyblade was enough for any friendship, but hopefully these kids will be able to handle three, since they’ve miraculously all come up with potential from somewhere.

 

Riku is Terra’s inheritor and Sora seems to have one by virtue of holding Ven in his heart, but Kairi’s only contact with keybearers has been Aqua and Mickey, and neither of them remained long enough in Radiant Garden to formally bequeath her. Her light-filled heart is curious enough on its own, too.

 

Nevertheless, Aqua hopes exposing them to an active, resonating keyblade will help with future summoning. The keyblade doesn’t protest, but it certainly doesn’t make it easy on them to handle it, either.

 

“It’s so heavy,” Sora exclaims, straining to lift the indifferent weapon over his head. It doesn’t dematerialize in his grip, but it certainly doesn’t approve, either. It wouldn’t feel so heavy otherwise.

 

“Yours won’t be like that,” Aqua reassures as she takes it back. It’s technically not entirely hers, either, but it seems somewhat content enough in her hands, likely because its original wielder approves of her. “Master’s Defender knows you’re not ready yet.”

 

She wonders if that’s why it hasn’t transformed for her yet.

 

* * *

 

 _Huh,_ he thinks. _I’m alive._

 

Awake, even. It feels like he was dreaming at one point, something annoying and unbecoming of him, but his mind shies away from those fractured memories. They’re just dreams, anyway, so he lets them slip from his hands. A better use of his time is figuring out why he’s not dead — or, better yet, where he is.

 

Empty blackness stretches before him, but he’s not sure if that’s because his eyes are closed or if there’s truly nothing to see.

 

“What the hell?” he says aloud, shaking off the heavy silence. “Hey! Is anyone here?”

 

Silence.

 

Figures. He tries to move, but it’s so dark that there’s no way to tell if he’s made any progress. Frustration wells up within him, a familiar negativity that snaps and claws through his veins. Before it can start catching on the ragged edges of his heart and actually hurt him, he reflexively pushes it to the most torn-up part of his heart, the part shored up with darkness as a stopgap solution to its crumbling state. Sooner or later, the shadows will break it apart anyway and he’ll be lost, but for now it lets him vent all those feelings he’s incapable of processing.

 

… Normally, that is. It’s not working this time.

 

He blinks, and then shoves his frustration a little harder. It needs to get out or it’ll rip him apart, but it’s stuck, which makes his frustration intensify, sharpening within him. He braces himself, prepared for it to ravage the ruined seams of his heart in a burst of agony.

 

Except it doesn’t. There’s no pain, and the frustration subsides quickly as confusion takes its place, and it feels soft. It feels _okay,_ like something he hasn’t felt since being torn from his lighter half.

 

It feels whole.

 

Vanitas bursts into laughter. It’s not a nice sound, grating harshly even in his own ears, but it’s relieved. Victorious. He presses a hand to his face and laughs and laughs, feeling his emotions surge within the bounds of his heart, feeling them settle, feeling them remain safely managed within him. No unversed leap into being, no shadows spill out from his broken darkness, no pieces of his heart teeter on the edge of breaking away.

 

So not only has he somehow recovered from Ventus breaking the X-blade and their shared heart worse than Master Xehanort ever had, _he’s_ the one in control of their newly repaired heart. The other one isn’t even struggling, as far as Vanitas can feel, so maybe he’s gone for good.

 

“Take _that,_ Ventus!” he shouts, still cackling.

 

“Take what?”

 

Vanitas whirls around, heart in his throat, but — it’s not Ventus’ voice, it’s too young to be him.

 

The darkness shudders and peels back, light blooming from beneath. He looks down to see someone else’s heart glowing softly at his feet, a glowing platform of stained glass.

 

A small boy stands across from him. “Take what?” he repeats.

 

“That’s none of your business,” Vanitas retorts. Then, noticing that the uncanny resemblance between them, he quickly summons his mask to hide his face. “What are you doing here? Why am _I_ here?”

 

“I dunno,” the kid says. “Why do you have a mask?”

 

Vanitas ignores the question. “What do you mean you don’t know? This is your heart, isn’t it?” It certainly looks childish enough, with little circles framing fruit and sand and stars.

 

The boy shrugs, folding his arms behind his head as he looks around. “I’ve only been here once, I think. A while ago, someone came here and asked me for help. Aqua says it was probably her friend, Ven.”

 

“Ventus?” Vanitas grits his teeth, realizing he must’ve been dragged along for the ride when that weakling decided to take refuge in a kid’s heart. But that also means Ventus didn’t just melt back into Vanitas’ heart; he must still be around.

 

But then… If Ventus isn’t filling in his broken heart, how does he feel this whole?

 

“How do you know Ven?” the boy asks, just as Vanitas realizes that he’d said _Aqua_ too. Of course she’d still be around.

 

“We used to be close,” Vanitas says, which is almost close enough to the truth to not be a lie. He doubts an explanation of heart-rending would mean much to somebody so young, anyway. “Where’s Ventus?”

 

“Sleeping. Sometimes dreaming. I might be dreaming right now!”

 

“Great, that totally helps.” Short on patience, Vanitas feels the familiar jitter of irritation crawl along his skin — but it never twists out of him, no matter how much he tries to make it leave.

 

Strange.

 

“I’m Sora!” the kid says, uselessly.

 

Vanitas looks down at the heart soft and gentle beneath his feet, supporting him. This must be how Ventus survived the first time, and why Vanitas is okay now. This fucking kid, flexible enough to mold his heart to the shape of others, sealing cracks and holes and giving them a second chance to recover. “Do you go around leaving parts of yourself in other people on a regular basis, or what?”

 

The boy — Sora — giggles. “You mean like friendship? Does that make us friends?”

 

 _My friends are my power, and I’m theirs!_ rings in his ears unbidden. Mood soured immediately by the memory, he backs away, fist clenched. He wishes he could summon his keyblade now, but his heart’s too weak. He’s always been too weak. Too alone.

 

“Keep dreaming,” Vanitas snarls, and leaps off the edge of Sora’s heart.

 

* * *

 

“That’s cheating!” Sora shouts, ducking away from a sputtering Fire hurled towards his head. The spell is little more than embers, but he still doesn’t want to get hit by it. Magic’s still new, and he’d rather not find out how much it stings. “No teaming up!”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kairi sing-songs. She grins past Sora’s shoulder at an amused Riku, whose fingers are still smoldering, before surging in for another attack.

 

Sora makes an indignant noise and just barely dodges out of the way, slipping a bit on the sand as he frantically rolls to avoid the backswing of her sword. He ends up too close to Riku, though, and has to roll again to avoid a sharp jab to his side.

 

Riku snickers. “I’m just focusing on you first,” he says. “Prioritizing. Kairi just so happens to be doing the same.”

 

“Rude,” Sora says, and decides target him in retaliation. Sora whirls around and lashes out with a horizontal strike, managing to catch Riku’s elbow before he escapes from range. While Riku recoils, briefly distracted, Sora leaps up with the intent to land a blitz — but he’s intercepted by Kairi’s sliding dash, which knocks him off course so that he misses Riku entirely. “Cheating!” he declares again, pointedly, but manages to parry her follow-up attack and roll to safety.

 

Aqua, refereeing in the sidelines, shrugs. “Bad luck,” she counters, not bothering to conceal her smile, and Sora sends her a betrayed look. It doesn’t last long before he’s forced to focus again, warily keeping up a defensive stance.

 

“You can call it revenge for ganging up on me last time,” Kairi says, beginning to circle around him.

 

“Riku was in on it too!”

 

Kairi grins. “Oh, don’t worry, he’s not getting out of it unscathed. I’ll get him next round.” Riku grimaces, not looking forward to his fate, but he’s happy enough to have an advantage during this round.

 

Together, they manage to corner Sora somewhat as Aqua looks on. His combos continuously miss on the latter strikes because he hasn’t figured out how to stagger them both at once yet, and although it’s a good learning experience, Aqua does sympathize somewhat with Sora’s frantic swings and footwork as he struggles to escape his friends.

 

“Don’t get overconfident, Riku, Kairi,” Aqua says, watching as the spar slowly turns into a mess as they begin to forget their swords in favor of chasing each other. Thankfully, her voice seems to snap them back into it. “Pay attention to what you’re doing. Your stances are deteriorating — you too, Sora! Don’t panic.”

 

“Trying!” Sora squawks, but frustration begins to bleed into his movements, causing them to grow sloppy and thoughtless.

 

That’s not good. Wanting to cut in before he turns that into a habit, Aqua opens her mouth to intervene, but stops when Sora suddenly shudders, his posture changing. He quickly gathers himself and springs back to get out of range before anyone can take advantage of that moment. It’s a smart move, but executed with surprising finesse for his size and experience.

 

Aqua knows what nearly two years of practice looks like, and it’s not that. Her first suspicion is that more of Ven is peeking through, but it’s not quite the same as Ven’s light-footed movements. She’s been keeping an eye out for those, but when Sora lands three-point in the sand a pace away, he does so with a much heavier weight than Ven would, despite his smaller size, so Aqua isn’t quite sure what to make of it.

 

He holds his sword to the side (not in a reverse grip, not Ven’s way) with a strange expression: eyes narrowed, what could be a pout or an outright scowl twisting his lips... When Riku tries to advance, Sora retaliates with a vicious slash that actually disarms him completely, wooden sword sent flying.

 

Riku backpedals too late, but Kairi comes to his aid with a makeshift strike raid, hurling her weapon as a spinning projectile that distracts Sora just enough, forcing him to parry it with teeth clenched and a strange light in his eyes. Riku takes the chance to escape.

 

Unfortunately, that means both Riku and Kairi are unarmed, since Kairi’s wooden sword doesn’t return like a keyblade would. She begins making her way towards it, but Sora rushes in — and vanishes midstep, leaving a faint apparition behind.

 

Aqua sees shadows and ghosts and Master’s Defender _howls_ to life—

 

The next thing Kairi hears is the dull _thunk!_ of wood on enchanted metal. She whirls around, stunned to see her Master braced over her with keyblade drawn, completing the arc of her swing to knock Sora away.

 

“I see you’re doing well,” Sora says, but Kairi knows it’s not Sora, it’s too deep and disdainful. Wisps of murky smog drift off his silhouette, and that makes Kairi’s heart _burn,_ like it’s instinctively trying to defend itself from something. “So you took after your Master—”

 

“You’re supposed to be gone,” Aqua cuts in, cold and unyielding. “What are you doing here, Vanitas?” There’s bitterness and dread in Aqua’s voice, something closer to darkness than she’s ever let herself show. Kairi recognizes the name from Aqua’s tales of her friends and their struggles, but she’d said that this guy had been defeated.

 

Looks like it hasn’t stayed that way, Kairi thinks grimly.

 

Not-Sora sneers at Aqua. “Seeing me just breaks your heart, does it? Well, you and my _stupid_ light broke mine! I was almost whole, but no, you _had_ to interfere.”

 

“How are you here?” Aqua demands, grip tightening on Master’s Defender. She’s keenly aware of Kairi (and Riku, sneaking closer), who would never stand a chance against Vanitas. Her first priority is their safety.

 

“Like I said, I was almost whole. Ventus—” Vanitas speaks the name with a drawl like it’s sarcastic, like it doesn’t fit being attached to someone else “—broke our heart, which means I was along for the ride when he found this kid.” And then he bares his teeth in an unfriendly grin, an expression strange and wrong on Sora’s face. “But I’ve always been stronger than him, so I’m here first.”

 

Aqua swings her blade to her side, holding it at a ready diagonal with its tip just barely brushing the sand. Attacking Vanitas would mean attacking Sora, so she doesn’t want to raise her blade more than she already has. “Enough, Vanitas. Leave us.”

 

“Trust me, I’d love to, but I dreamed myself here,” he retorts. “Your girl’s heart brings bad memories.” He glares directly at Kairi, and then at Aqua when she moves to shield Kairi from sight. “Anyway, I dunno how to get back in. I’m stuck. And, come to think of it… so are you.”

 

Kairi tenses at how _smug_ Vanitas sounds, every inch of her screaming in warning. Even Riku flinches beside her, so she reaches down to grab his hand in reassurance. And then she raises her voice. “Sora!”

 

“Ah, yes, screaming will _definitely_ help me dream my way back,” Vanitas says, sarcastic.

 

“Shut up,” Aqua snaps.

 

Kairi tries again. “Sora!” She feels what she’s learned to be her light flare up in her chest, and the air seems to feel just a touch thicker than before — weighed down with magic, like around Aqua right before she casts. Kairi doesn’t know what she’s doing or how, only that it makes Vanitas focus on her with blazing intent.

 

“Stop that,” he says, tensing.

 

Even that tiny flinch of a movement jolts Aqua into casting Reflega, a shimmering barrier excluding Vanitas from her and her pupils. Vanitas pulls back further, lips curled in an impatient, unhappy snarl, but Kairi takes a deep breath and sprints past the magic before Aqua can grab her (it’s meant for keeping things out, not in).

 

To her surprise, she actually reaches Vanitas, and even manages to grab onto his wrist without him retaliating. Knowing it won’t last, she pushes her light into roaring forth as she shouts, “Sora!”

 

Light blazes through him, and Kairi squeezes her eyes shut against its brilliance.

 

And just like that, her fear abates. The light falters, no longer sensing any threat, and retracts abruptly. After a moment, she opens her eyes, squinting past the blotchy spots seared into her vision — but she doesn’t need her sight to recognize Sora’s voice as his own when he says, “Kairi?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “you can’t post this! you didn’t revise at all!” those are the words of a coward. or a voice of reason. either way, this is my present to myself (happy late birthday to me), so it doesn’t need to be polished to oblivion. 
> 
> I’m getting kinda iffy about the islands so expect a timeskip to kh1 soon! I got most of the stuff I wanted to get through.


	4. Chapter 4

“Why are you here?”

 

Sora hesitates, and then dares to step a little closer. The glow of his heart fluctuates, matching his wavering indecision. Then, as he takes a deep breath to resolve himself, it steadies. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

 

A scoff emanates from the dark corner that Vanitas has tucked himself into. He does feel a little scorched from the forceful displacement, and his dislike of light has been renewed, but he’s endured worse. “Worrying about me? Please. Your Master won’t be too happy about that.”

 

“She wasn’t angry, though,” Sora says. “Just surprised. And worried.”

 

Vanitas eyes him. He’s pretty sure the girl is fine; the kid wouldn’t be so carefree otherwise, and _she’s_ the one that touched him when he hadn’t even laid a hand on her — though he won’t deny it was a close call before he remembered where he was. Serves her right, having such an imbalanced heart like Ventus. But if the light girl is fine, then Aqua must be more worried about him taking over her precious charge.

 

As though he would need anyone else’s body now that his heart is repairing itself, Vanitas thinks sourly. He should be able to make himself another body out of the darkness once he’s ready, and the sooner he can get out of here and never look back, the better. There will be no Master to order him around, no unversed clawing out of his skin, no Ventus to taunt him with stability he once never had.

 

Ventus would always taunt him with his name, though. Vanitas sneers, remembering that Ventus had once been _his_ name, but because his lighter half laid claim to the original body, Vanitas ended up losing that part of him. At this point, there doesn’t seem to be a way or reason to try and get it back.

 

Ventus’ friends have spoken the name with enough disgusting affection to ruin it, in Vanitas’ eyes, so good riddance. He doesn’t need it. He doesn’t want it.

 

He purposefully ignores the pang of longing in his chest.

 

“Why do you want to fight Ven?” Sora asks, breaking into his thoughts. Vanitas glares at him, but the kid presses on anyway. “Why do you want to start a war?”

 

“I don’t _want_ any of that,” Vanitas snaps, temper flaring. Being able to properly experience his irritation is still novel, but he doesn’t stop to appreciate it. “Ventus can roll over and die for all I care. I don’t need him anymore, and I don’t need the X-blade, either.”

 

Sora perks up a little, despite Vanitas’ anger. “That’s good, then! You guys don’t have to fight.”

 

Vanitas lets out a disbelieving snort.

 

“I’m serious!”

 

“I’m sure you are.” Honestly, he’d be lucky to escape this place in one piece, what with Aqua lingering so close. Especially if she thinks he’s taken over Ventus’ heart again. “Where is Ventus, anyway?”

 

Sora hesitates, and then looks around. It’s still just the two of them on the glass platform of his heart. “Um… Sleeping.”

 

Just like the first time, then. “I’m not going to stay on this tiny platform forever,” Vanitas says, turning aside with contempt. “It’s boring and awful. Going back to sleep is just as bad. I don’t suppose you could just _let me out_ now, I’m fine. It’s not like I needed your help to begin with.”

 

“I don’t know how.” Sora smiles sheepishly. “I mean, I could try?”

 

“Then _do_ it.”

 

Apparently aggravated by the clipped response, Sora sticks his tongue out, which tempts Vanitas to just attack him and deal with the issue on his own, but — fortunately for Sora — his want to leave overrides his annoyance.

 

A moment passes. And then another. At first, it doesn’t seem like anything’s happening, but it slowly becomes clear that the stained glass platform is steadily brightening.

 

That’s not great, for someone as dark-based as Vanitas, but it doesn’t burn him so much as… melt past him?

 

The details of the platform vanish under the glow, as does the physical support they’re standing on. Vanitas tries to back away from it, but finds it hard to move, like his legs are weighed down in quicksand.

 

Sora is nowhere to be seen as the light swells up and over them, but Vanitas shouts anyway, “This isn’t what I meant!”

 

Just because it doesn’t hurt doesn’t mean Vanitas isn’t rightfully wary. He remains tense for several beats — measuring them with his own pulse — until the light finally ebbs.

 

He finds himself on a beach.

 

For a moment, he thinks it actually worked; this is no pitch-black void with nothing but a heart glimmering in it. There’s sand and sky and sea and wind sweeping along the shoreline. Mountains rise up behind him. It seems real, and it feels real, but—

 

The colors aren’t quite right.

 

Vanitas has seen the island, when he slid into control of Sora’s body for a moment. It’s not this… glowy. Not this saturated.

 

“Just another dream,” he snarls, kicking at the sand. “Kid, you _failed,_ now wake up!” It’s not quite the same as other dreams, though. This construct feels more solid. More like memory, filtered through the warmth of Sora’s heart. Strange that Sora himself isn’t in this dream or memory or whatever this is, but the most important point is that this is not where Vanitas wants to be.

 

It is warm, though.

 

He reaches for his keyblade, but it doesn’t come. It’s still there, a hiss of red accents and iron prickling at his fingertips, nothing like the gold-silver perfection of the X-blade, but he struggles to manifest it. That’s another sign that he’s not in the real world; if his heart’s too weak to even summon Void Gear, he wouldn’t be able to make a himself a body, either.

 

A sparkle of gold in the rising sun catches his eye. Vanitas looks up, and for a moment he thinks he sees a glimpse of blond leaning against a curved tree trunk.

 

But when he blinks, it’s gone.

 

* * *

 

Aqua rubs her temples. “Sora,” she says, alarm draining away what patience she has. “Sora, please don’t talk to Vanitas so much.”

 

“But he’s okay,” Sora protests. He’s got his arms around Riku and Kairi, mostly to reassure them that he’s fine, though neither they nor Aqua look convinced. “Vanitas said he doesn’t wanna fight Ven anymore, and he doesn’t care about the— the X-blade, so everything’s okay now!”

 

“I sincerely doubt that,” Aqua says. Vanitas has manipulated people before — Ven, namely — and she finds herself reluctant to trust anything he says. Letting go of her hate is doable; Eraqus had always spoken of darkness as hate and rage, so she’s plenty willing and knows how to remove herself from that. But actually forgiving and _accepting_ someone who helped tear her family apart, possessed one of her best friends, _and_ nearly killed her on multiple accounts is much harder.

 

Sora seems determined otherwise, though. “He’s not so bad.”

 

“He was controlling you,” Kairi interjects. Every inch of her is light and naturally distrusts Vanitas, in addition to Aqua has told them about his actions in the past, but she also knows that Sora is uncannily good at drawing out people’s good sides. “Are you sure that’s okay?”

 

“Yeah! He was just confused and dreaming and it was an accident. All he wants is to get out.”

 

Well, that’s something Aqua can agree with. Leaving Vanitas in Sora’s heart is not exactly ideal. “Is he listening in?” she asks.

 

Sora shakes his head. “He’s usually not,” he says. “Also, I. Um. I accidentally put him somewhere but I don’t know where? He probably can’t listen from there. I think. I couldn’t go there.”

 

Aqua raises a brow. She’s already told them what she knows of the heart, which isn’t not much, since tampering with hearts directly is forbidden by keybearers. But it’s a starting point, at least. Sora in particular needs to figure out how to take care of his heart, since he has extra residents that need some healing of their own. If only she could still access to the Land of Departure’s vast libraries of information... “I hope he stays there, then. Be careful, Sora. Vanitas is very dangerous, and he’s made of nothing but darkness.”

 

Unless Sora’s influence has injected some light into Vanitas’ heart, which is perfectly likely, now that Aqua thinks about it. She doesn’t know much about hearts healing hearts — nobody does, it’s not a well-known possibility — but. Huh. Maybe there’s hope yet.

 

* * *

 

Vanitas does climb out of the strange inner-heart-island place, eventually. He has to do so on his own, because Sora doesn’t know how to control his heart beyond taking others in and also because he likes the reminder that he’s not so weak that he needs others to do everything for him.

 

It doesn’t take long for the kid to poke his head back in, to Vanitas’ chagrin.

 

“There you are,” Sora says. He looks happy and energetic as always. “I told Aqua it’s all okay now, so don’t worry!”

 

Vanitas snorts. “Did she believe you?”

 

“… Kind of?”

 

“That’s a no. Thought so.”

 

* * *

 

When they start building a raft, it’s not in hopes that it would carry them to another world.

 

“A raft won’t take you too far,” Aqua says, visibly amused by the very idea. “Other worlds are up there in the sky, not across the sea. Your hearts will carry you much further.”

 

Riku shrugs. “It’s practice,” he says, picking splinters off the logs they’ve gathered. “There are other islands out there we haven’t seen, so if we can reach them on our own, then it’d be a pretty big milestone, right? Like another small world.”

 

“You’re just impatient,” Sora teases.

 

“And you’re not?” Riku hurls a couple of wood chips at him, smiling. “Actually, with how little you’ve contributed, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

 

Sora sticks his tongue out. “I’ve been busy practicing!”

 

“And how’s that any different from us?” Kairi props her hands on her hips, pretending to scold him. Her grin makes it easy to see past the facade, though.

 

“The only difference here is me doing extra work,” Riku grouses. “You can’t say anything about that, Kairi — you’ve been slacking off too!”

 

Kairi makes an indignant noise and lifts a string of seashells in defense. It’s a half-done charm of thalassa shells, four of five pieces tied together. “I’m making something very important for our voyage,” she declares, wiggling the wayfinder at them. “This will make sure we don’t get lost or separated. Like a paopu fruit, but not as formal.”

 

Riku looks unimpressed. “It’s a charm.”

 

“It’s a good luck charm, and it works. Just ask Aqua,” Kairi says, pointing shamelessly at the older keybearer, who’s holding out her own shimmering wayfinder as a point of reference.

 

“It does work, with the help of a little magic,” Aqua confirms. Her lips quirk upward into a grin. “I’ve tried it.”

 

Riku sends her a faintly betrayed look, like he can’t believe she’s condoning this obvious disregard of shared workload. She kind of sympathizes, remembering all the times some ‘shared’ duties had fallen squarely on her shoulders while Ven shot through the halls and Terra pretended to make an attempt to corral him, though she’s pretty sure that’s happened to all of them at some point.

 

That said, she’s currently entertained enough to remain unmoved despite Riku’s mock exasperation.

 

“Yes, but I’m building a _literal raft,”_ he says.

 

“And I’m doing literal magic,” Kairi quips back cheerfully. “Better safe than sorry and all that. What’s _your_ real excuse, Sora?”

 

There’s an unexpected pause for a couple seconds, and then Riku muffles a snort. Kairi turns her head towards Sora and finds her friend already passed out on the pile of wood they’ve gathered, limbs sprawled loosely under the warm sun.

 

“Is he,” she begins, struggling to keep her voice down as a giggle works its way up her throat. She smothers her snickering into a hand, hoping not to stir him, before continuing, “Is he _asleep?_ How?”

 

Aqua snorts and mutters something about _Ven_ in an affectionate yet long-suffering tone before getting to her feet. “I’m heading back,” she says. “I promised the mayor I’d speak with him tonight.” A pause, and then, amused, “Don’t harass him too much.”

 

Riku’s already contemplating a loose plank of wood, his eyes glancing between it and Sora, and Kairi can practically see the math whirling around his head as he deliberates whether or not waking him for fun will be worth Sora’s (admittedly shallow, when it comes to them) ire. “Uh-huh,” he says, distracted. He does wait for Aqua to move out of earshot before reaching for the plank, though.

 

An idea suddenly occurs to Kairi. “Wait!” she whisper-shouts, abruptly scrambling up. “Let me — _pfff_ — let me get my camera! I left it by the trees.”

 

“Be quick!” Riku whisper-shouts back in immediate approval.

 

Kairi mock-salutes him and darts off.

 

* * *

 

Riku sits in the shadowy cavern, facing the mysterious door that Aqua had warned them not to tamper with.

 

He’s learned through observation that things locked by keyblades tend to have a shimmery quality to them, a metallic taste in the air that no normal key can touch. Reaching up to run his fingers over the smooth shield shimmering against the door, he can’t help but wonder if she’d sealed it too late.

 

_And whose idea was it to keep it a secret for so long?_

 

He stiffens at the voice, glanced around furtively, and then hisses, “It was yours.” He too old for this kind of prodding now, fifteen years old and counting, but the voice is confident and clever and knowing.

 

_No, I only suggested you think it over before you shout it to the crowd. You came up with the idea of staying completely quiet on your own. It was a test, and you think you’ve failed._

 

“Think? If it’s a test, I obviously failed it.” A pause. And then, spitefully, “But if it’s one of your tests, I guess that’s a good thing.”

 

_Who said this test was mine, boy?_

 

Riku narrows his eyes for a moment, and then rolls them. “I did. Aqua doesn’t test us like that.”

 

_I was not the one to seal the door, so I could not have set it up. You know she’s only here because of you, and now you know why: none of her pupils have demonstrated independence, least of all you, who boasts it. None of you have taken that first step._

 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Riku retorts, but — he remembers Aqua’s concern, her steps taken slowly for their sake, her attention divided between the never-ending sky studded with stars at night and the three of them running about carefree in the day. He knows she’d never meant to become a mentor, and while she bears the task willingly, it’s still holding her back. Riku tries not to think about that and says, “You might have trained her, but you don’t know anything about how she trains us.”

 

_But you do._

 

Riku bristles. Not for the first time, he’s tempted to just leave and seek Aqua out and tell her about the ghost following him around and ask what he should do, but to bring up the sore spot of her deceased Master is…

 

_(Don’t hurt her with such distractions,_ the voice had said. _You’ve shackled her quite enough already. Let her focus on getting home to her friends, rather than on old Masters long gone.)_

 

“What do you suggest I do, then?” he snaps. He can’t unlock it, and he knows there’s darkness out there. “It’s not a test if it’s impossible and actually lethal.”

 

_There is one solution to both problems, and you know it._

 

Yeah, Riku thinks to himself sourly. By summoning his keyblade, he could undo the seal and beat back the darkness, but that’s an issue in and of itself.

 

Maybe it’s something about the island, but none of the apprentices have summoned their keyblades. Magic works just fine, and they’ve mastered the basic elements, but the keys just won’t come. Riku doesn’t like to think it’s their physical placement at fault, but Aqua can’t transform her key here either, so maybe it _is_ because Destiny Island is strange and small and suffocating.

 

“If I could get my keyblade, we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” Riku says, directing a glare at the shadows dappling the ground because there’s nothing else to glare at.

 

_Precisely. It is the key to your problems, so summon it, boy._

 

“I can’t.”

 

_So you claim, but your heart is strong. Summon it._

 

Frustrated, Riku picks up a rock and hurls it at the wall. It bounces off a blank spot, leaving a little white mark before it falls to the ground, right beside the three faces sketched in white. “What part of ‘can’t’ don’t you understand?”

 

There’s no response. For a moment, Riku thinks he’s free to leave, but then the voice speaks up again. _Take that frustration — yes, put it to good use. That, too, is strength of heart._

 

“Negativity?” he asks, skeptical.

 

_Being able to_ control _that negativity. If you fan its flames, you can forge your keyblade from it._ Riku gets the sense that the voice is smiling, somehow. _Return here tomorrow night, boy, and I will tell you the secret to calling your key._

 

Although reluctant to believe him, the world has only shrunk as Riku’s grown. He’s desperate, and it’s not like he hasn’t noticed Sora’s eagerness about other places and Kairi’s curiosity about her home world and Aqua’s wistful look when she speaks of other places. “Why haven’t we been taught this secret?”

 

_You’re supposed to figure it out on your own, of course. Your Master can’t hold your hand all the time. However, you’re clearly in need of a little help, and I’m certain she would not be opposed to a guiding hand nudging you along._

 

He has a point, but that doesn’t mean Riku likes it. “Fine, but I’m telling them that I got the trick from you afterwards,” he says. “Because there’ll be less to worry about once I get my keyblade.”

 

_Go ahead,_ the voice says, amused. _I look forward to working with you, young keybearer._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ansem sod doesn’t actually remember/know anything about bbs events. riku just uhhhh accidentally fed him a lot of information as a kid and ansem can be Very Cunning sometimes. I probably should’ve covered that in an earlier scene but I really wanted to get off the island so shrugs maybe we’ll flashback later.
> 
> I’m just really, really excited because it’s! the! final! night!


	5. Chapter 5

Kairi can’t sleep.

 

The window rattles, the glass shuddering as wind howls past in unknown fury. It’s much louder than the usual noise of the small house settling, and when she looks outside, the night is darker than it’s ever been.

 

The good thing about this little home the mayor had graciously lent to his off-world visitors is that it’s right by the sea, which normally means it offers a wonderful view.

 

Now, sitting up and peering out the window, she sees only pitch-black waves frothing at the shore as clouds darken over where she knows the play island to be. It looks like a storm, but no storm gathers with such unnatural speed and vastness. In minutes, Kairi finds it impossible to make out the actual island against the backdrop of dark sea and sky. Something like thunder growls overhead, but no lightning illuminates the steep cliffs and trees and mountains she should be able to see.

 

As the wind kicks up, snapping and cracking branches against the roof with increasing frequency. The sound shudders down Kairi’s spine and raises goosebumps over her skin, and her heart reels in its cage even before she realizes that something must be wrong with the world.

 

A storm could make this kind of noise, but it couldn’t make her feel like this, like the world is teetering at the edge of an abyss, like the darkness is prowling closer, closer, closer.

 

She recognizes this rising apprehension the same way someone would recognize the alleyway in which they’d been robbed at gunpoint. It’s the worst kind of familiarity, the kind that claws at her with all the panicked desperation of a cornered animal, the kind that knows just how closely she’d brushed death before.

 

Kairi clutches at her chest as she tries to keep that fear suppressed. Her heart — her light in all its brilliance — it’s terrified. It wants to flee, it wants to tuck itself somewhere safe and stay there and never come back out, but Kairi’s never been much for hiding. Rather than cowering in wait for the storm to pass, she forces that icy dread aside and rolls off her bed, crumpling on the ground. The shadows roil about her, bubbling with malicious intent, but none of it can touch her yet.

 

“Breathe,” she hisses, shoving herself off the floor. She gathers her bravery, every muscle coiled with tension, and lifts her chin in defiance. “I know how to fight the darkness. You don’t scare me!”

 

Her words don’t have much effect on the ominous atmosphere, though. Not alone.

 

Kairi knows she needs help. She sprints out of her room — and slams gracelessly into the wall opposite the door, too frantic to course-correct in time. Undeterred, she pushes off the wall rushes down the hall to the other bedroom. Tonight’s too dark for stargazing, so her nearest ally should be here.

 

“Aqua!” Kairi shouts, bursting into the room and startling the Keyblade Master from her desk. “Aqua, something’s wrong — I… There’s a storm, but it feels wrong.”

 

“What?” Aqua’s already summoned Master’s Defender to hand, its metallic glow a reassuring pinprick of light in the deepening dark, but she hesitates, not knowing where to point it.

 

Kairi shifts her weight restlessly, gaze flickering out the window every couple of seconds. The shadows haven’t stopped their creeping advance. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I think the darkness is coming closer? I don’t — I don’t know, but my heart is…”

 

It’s hard to describe such a feeling when it’s still trying to strangle her, but Aqua seems to get the idea. She leads her apprentice out of the house, keeping a sharp watch for unnatural disturbances. The only noticeable thing is the storm and its heady darkness laying thick over the sea, though.

 

Aqua peers across the water, eyes narrowed against the gales billowing against her. “Is it coming from the island?” she asks, projecting her voice to be heard over the wind.

 

“Maybe,” Kairi calls back. “It does cover it…” Then, remembering the only hint of possible danger sourced on that little island — that strange wooden door that Aqua had sealed — her eyes widen. “Do you think it’s the door?”

 

Instead of answering, Aqua begins making her way towards the water, which is frankly answer enough. When Kairi tries to follow suit, though, Aqua holds up a hand to stop her. “Stay back,” she warns. “It’s dangerous — _don’t_ follow me.”

 

“Alone? But you…” Kairi bites her lip against the rest of her protest protest when Aqua shoots her a severe look, knowing that going directly against such a command will only result in being Barriered somewhere useless. (She’s learned that Aqua’s occasional overprotectiveness stems from trauma-based fear, which is impossible to argue against. Being sneaky pays off better.) After a moment of picking her words carefully, Kairi says, “I — I’m going to check on Sora and Riku first.” It is not a lie.

 

Another roar of thunder makes Aqua look up with a frown, this time followed by a flash of purplish lightning. The storm’s worsening quickly, and Kairi thinks that’s the only reason why Aqua doesn’t pry a more thorough promise out of her.

 

“Be quick,” Aqua says, sparing her a sharp look. Once Kairi nods in response, she takes off.

 

Kairi takes off at the same time, but towards Sora’s house rather than the sea — he’s closer and has a better line of sight to the island than Riku. With any luck, it won’t take long to convince his mom to let him go, though Kairi has no idea how she’d even begin to pull that off.

 

Much to her surprise, she doesn’t need to.

 

She spots Sora heading towards the shore just before she rounds the final corner to his house, so she changes direction to beeline towards him. “Sora!” she shouts as she closes in. “Hey, Sora!”

 

It takes a couple of tries for him to hear her, which is still a small miracle with how much the wind is howling in their ears, but once he does, he skids to a stop and lets her catch up. “Wh-what are you doing here?” Sora asks, baffled.

 

“I have a bad feeling about this storm,” Kairi says, grabbing his wrist. “What are _you_ doing?”

 

“Gotta make sure the raft doesn’t wash away!”

 

Well, she can’t fault him for that. Riku _had_ worked really hard on it. “Aqua’s heading there now. There might be trouble, do you want to get Riku and check it out together?”

 

Sora looks over her shoulder for a second, brows furrowed. “Uh, Riku’s boat isn’t here,” he says. “Maybe he already went?”

 

“What?” Kairi whirls around and spots the dock where their small canoes are usually tied up. Sure enough, instead of the usual three, only two shapes bob unevenly in the rough water, just barely visible under the roar-flicker of another lightning bolt.

 

Kairi has a _really_ bad feeling about this.

 

“C’mon,” she says, refusing to voice to her nervousness. “We need to check it out.”

 

* * *

 

There’s a certain kind of foolishness involved in using only a mix of Blizzaga and Aeroga to cross an ocean, especially since it’s not an especially fast form of travel, but Aqua doesn’t have time for anything safer.

 

Besides, she trusts her own spellcasting. It’s one of the only things that have remained by her side.

 

By the time she reaches the island, she’s doused in seawater and chilled to the bone. Aqua hops onto the beach with a shudder, wondering for a moment if the wind and water are the only things responsible for the cold. Something else in the air seems anticipatory, and not in a good way.

 

While the beach seems fairly normal, everything further inland is steeped in deep shadows, a darkness so thick it could almost peel itself from the floor.

 

“Fire,” she casts, hoping to illuminate her path with a swirl of flame — and dry herself off a bit; letting hypothermia set in would be stupid — but as the shadows recoil, pinpricks of gold appear in the darkness, tinged just barely red in the firelight.

 

Just like that, the attention of countless _things_ in the dark abruptly fixate on her. She feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and it’s more on intuition than reflex that she swings her keyblade.

 

Some small creature jumps at the same moment and hisses as Master’s Defender slams into it. For an instant, she glimpses its silhouette before it dissolves, gone before it hits the ground.

 

“Unversed?” Aqua murmurs, immediately picking up on the thin tap-tap of claws on stone trying to crowd her. It can’t be; Vanitas is still trapped in Sora, and they’re no unversed she’s ever encountered. Now that she’s seen one of these creatures in full, she can make out the shifting forms emerging from the shadows en masse, rising from the floor with soft hisses and twitching movements. Not twitchy enough to be Floods, though.

 

She’ll have to figure out _what_ they are later. She knows they don’t belong, and that’s enough for now.

 

Taking them out one at a time wouldn’t put a dent in the horde, so Aqua slashes horizontally, wiping out the closest row. Before the others can close in, she leaps into the air. The shadowy mass hisses and reaches for her, but she’s too high up to feel threatened by their strange, wispy claws. Above them, she focuses on pinpointing one-two-five-ten- _twenty_ targets, her keyblade gathering light at its tip as she gathers her power.

 

Aqua lets the neon colors coalesce for a moment more, and then shouts, “Get out!”

 

Thin missiles fire from Master’s Defender in an instant. A burst of Prism Rain spirals out and down, each sliver of light striking true on a different target.

 

The sentient shadows scatter with soft hisses of what Aqua can only assume to be pain, and she launches into another series of slashes once she lands.

 

Some of the creatures sink into the ground like real shadows, making themselves impossible to hit, but most aren’t so quick to react and fall quickly to her keyblade’s fury.

 

Aqua keeps a close eye on her surroundings as she fights, trying to make her way towards the mysterious door. It should still be sealed — she’s the only active wielder on this world — but the endless waves of darkness seem to originate from somewhere around there. They choke the air in a way the unversed never have, and she finds herself wondering if the monsters are the source of the problem or only a symptom.

 

Clearing out the creatures in front of the hidden place with a well-placed spin, Aqua ducks her head into the cave — and immediately recoils. The darkness feels especially thick here, even though she doesn’t see any of the strange creatures scuttling over the floor. Distrusting of the apparent serenity, she doesn’t feel secure enough to enter until she’s lit up the room with a Triple Firaga.

 

She hopes she won’t have to fight in such close quarters. Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything here, aside for the door sitting ominously in the back.

 

But it’s not shimmering the way it should. She knows what to look for, and it’s not here.

 

Maybe it’s a trick of the lessening light. Hesitantly, Aqua reaches out and hopes to brush her knuckles against the magical barrier of a keyblade’s lock.

 

She doesn’t. It’s not there.

 

Aqua pulls away from it, frowning slightly. The lock could only be undone by a keyblade, so if it’s gone, then...

 

She hates to think that any of her friends would bring this kind of darkness with them, but a part of her dares to hope anyway. It’s the same part of her that aches for home, the part that’s been growing for years and years. A decade has passed since she last saw the people she loves, and no matter how awful and wrong this darkness is, if it means that she finally has them back, she can almost convince herself not to care.

 

Regardless, someone with a keyblade must’ve passed through. Maybe this door shouldn’t have been locked, and they’d come to change that.

 

Aqua turns and hurries out of the cave, not bothering to destroy the living shadows as she surges past them. She needs to find whoever’s responsible. “Hello?” she shouts to the wind, straining for a response. “Is anyone there?”

 

Her voice only draws more of the shadows, but they throw themselves at her in vain, burning against her strength without any opportunity to strike. The fight should pull some heat through her, but it feels sluggish, like there’s still a lingering chill clinging tightly to her skin.

 

Master’s Defender flashes in a circle around her, clearing out everything in immediate melee range, building power until it’s coated in brilliant light. Even then, the sheer numbers keep stifling its radiance, making it hard to see.

 

The only thing she can make out is some writhing sphere hovering overhead, tendrils of lightning and wind crawling over its twisting surface.

 

Right when Aqua thinks she’ll have to go for a wide-ranged finisher to give herself enough space to get to that clear source of danger, she spots a shape in the distance — over on the smaller offshoot of the island, across the wooden bridge, _directly_ beneath the dark orb. It’s too tall to be one of the shadows, too upright.

 

A flash of discolored lightning lights up the figure in purple-blue and—

 

Silver hair.

 

“Riku?” Aqua calls, incredulous. What’s he doing here? She starts running towards him, utterly disregarding the shadows reaching to snatch at her as she passes by (their claws aren’t cruelly tipped for pain like the unversed, but phase through and catch on something far more vulnerable). Worry devours her in an instant, because she can hold her own against these shadows, but Riku doesn’t have his keyblade yet, and there’s only so much magic he can cast before he runs out. A wooden sword won’t do much for him, either. “Riku!”

 

The shadows buzz like they can sense her concern, like they’ve found a weakness to exploit.

 

She doesn’t give them a chance to, of course; a passing Thunder Surge is enough to throw them back. His head seems to turn towards her, but it might be a trick of the darkness. She hopes it’s not. “Riku, come here!”

 

* * *

 

Kairi and Sora just barely reach the island before the sea becomes too rough to navigate.

 

Sure enough, Riku’s boat is already tied there, bobbing in the waves. There’s not much they can do but keep an eye out for him as they go, though. The storm kicks into high gear and practically turns the sea white with froth as they tiptoe away from it, making it clear that there’s no rowing back while this is still happening, whatever _this_ is.

 

“Guess we’re waiting it out here. Mom’s gonna be mad,” Sora remarks, brushing some wet strands of hair from his face. He seems to be feeling fine, but Kairi’s more apprehensive than ever.

 

“C’mon,” she says — but something rustles in the dark, stopping her mid-step. Her fears are affirmed when crawling creatures of the dark slouch out of the shadows towards them, hissing softly, swaying as they approach.

 

Sora immediately tenses, pulling out his wooden sword and falling into a ready stance. “What are those?” he says.

 

Kairi draws her own. “No idea, but they’re bad news for sure.” Somehow, she thinks she might recognize them, but it’s in the same murky place all of her oldest memories are.

 

One of the creatures jumps at them, and Kairi swings, hoping to knock it away. Instead, her sword passes right through it without effect, and she just barely moves aside in time to avoid its attack. Kairi hesitates, and then tries to jab it again. Her foe hisses and swipes at her, completely phasing through the wood. No luck. “Uh, Sora? I can’t hit it!”

 

“Me neither!” Sora looks around, now decidedly more on edge than before. “There’s too many of them. Let’s just find Riku first.”

 

“Right.”

 

While aggressive enough to strike, the shadows aren’t too fast or keen on chasing fleeing prey, so Kairi and Sora manage to push their way through without getting brutally mauled.

 

The ominous orb of inky darkness in the sky is far too close to miss, at this point, and Kairi would love nothing more than to avoid heading towards it. It makes her skin crawl. Unfortunately, Sora has other ideas, and before she can persuade him otherwise, someone’s voice cuts through the wind.

 

“Riku, come here!”

 

Sora perks up. “That’s Aqua! She’s close — look!” He points ahead, at the bridge.

 

“She found Riku?” Kairi spots a figure that could definitely be Aqua, but she doesn’t see anything that resembles Riku.

 

“Probably!” Sora hurries ahead, eager to find their friend. “Riku, Aqua!”

 

Kairi realizes they’re going to be in _so much_ trouble for being here when Aqua whirls around, surprised to see them. Oh, well. Technically she _is_ checking on Sora and Riku first, and it just so happens to be that Riku is here.

 

“What are you doing?” Aqua demands. She opens her mouth to continue, but abruptly cuts off as darkness surges up and the ground _heaves_ beneath them.

 

Kairi staggers, trying to find her footing, but the earth melts into shadow and she starts sinking into it. Panic shoots ice through her veins and she lifts her chin to scream but the air itself is heavy with darkness, so filled with it she can’t even see her friends through the haze.

 

She can’t see anything at all.

 

There’s only the frantic race of her heart in her chest, light all but buried in the void. She holds her breath tight, not because she can’t inhale the shadows, but because she isn’t sure she should.

 

 _Get out,_ she thinks, and her light flares. _Leave us alone!_

 

Something curls over her senses, just barely a brush of awareness in the back of her mind. Kairi has an instant to wonder what it is before light erupts in a blinding flash that incinerates the darkness, a metallic ringing in her ears as her weight suddenly drops solidly onto her feet onto the ground, the earth solid beneath her.

 

Kairi blinks the spots from her eyes, and — the sky’s still dark, but they are much, much closer to the orb of doom than they were just a moment ago. “Holy shit,” she says, and raises—

 

A keyblade.

 

A honey-colored key with teeth beautiful and vicious, sharp-petaled flowers blooming gracefully from the shaft, a delicate-looking thing that _sings_ in her hands as it tears into the shadowy creatures with its countless hooked points disguised as decoration. It’s infinitely better than the wooden sword she’d had before.

 

It feels like an old friend coming home.

 

“Holy shit,” Kairi says. She looks up at Sora, who’s staring in bafflement at a simpler silver key in his hand.

 

Aqua looks between the both of them with surprise, but recovers quickly. “That doesn’t mean you can just sprint into danger now,” she reminds sharply.

 

Something looms from behind her, and Aqua must see the sudden fear in their expressions because she whirls around the face the _massive_ shadow standing up several paces away.

 

It’s larger than the other shadows — larger than the keybearers, too. Maybe even larger than Kairi’s _house._ A heart-shaped hole sits in its torso, which crackles with dark power as it sinks to its knees. Energy gathers in front of that hole, forming a menacing orb that pulses as it grows.

 

Aqua figures out what’s going on quicker than her pupils do; the moment the orb fires at them, she yanks the tip of her keyblade up and guards with a Reflega, forcing the orb to bounce off her shield and hit the strange being.

 

It shoots another one at them, but this time Aqua jumps up to meet it, knocking the orb back with her keyblade. While she confronts it directly, Kairi and Sora exchange glances before splitting off. She takes to the right, making sure to keep an eye on her surroundings as she approaches one of the being’s hands, which are low to the ground.

 

Kairi glances at her newfound keyblade and its sunny coil over her heart like molten steel poised to spring. “Do something,” she whispers, and swings it overhead to smash into the oversized fist.

  
Her keyblade actually hits it, unlike her wooden sword before. The impact reverberates across the enchanted metal, and Kairi grins, reinvigorated by this small success. She slashes again, the hooked teeth shredding the shadows apart, and catches a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye.

  
She rolls out of the way, looking up just in time to see one of the dark orbs curve uselessly over the space where she’d been just a moment ago.

 

Aqua lands beside her, unruffled and barely breathing hard. The only indication that she’s struggling is the worried crease to her brow as her gaze flits over to Sora briefly before refocusing on Kairi. “Have you seen Riku?” she asks.

 

Infinitely glad she isn’t lecturing them on staying out of the danger, Kairi shakes her head truthfully. “I didn’t see him at all. We just heard you calling for him.”

 

Aqua grimaces. “He was in the dark too — the keyblades got us out, but…” She stops, seeing the creature straighten from its kneeling position and raise a fist. “Sora, watch out!”

 

“I-I got it!” Sora hurriedly backpedals as their foe punches down, the dark fist sinking the ground and manifesting a pool of darkness around it. The shadows lap at his feet, but he manages to escape its range before the first wave of smaller shadows come creeping from its depths.

 

“Sora!” Kairi runs over to meet him halfway, beating back the closest creature nipping at his heels. “You okay?”

 

“Yeah, I just got grazed a little.” He gestures to a his upper arm, where a sleeve has visibly taken some damage.

 

Aqua looks up at the larger creature, falling back into a ready stance. “Take care of the smaller ones,” she instructs. “I’ll try to keep the big one distracted — and hopefully get rid of it.”

 

“Got it,” Kairi says, and faces the shadows. She knows she can defend herself now, especially with Sora at her side. The only way the situation could be better would be if Riku were here, but…

 

She shakes the thought away. They’ll find him. He probably got tossed out of the darkness a little ways away, that’s all.

 

For now, she needs to focus on the shadows prowling closer. To her surprise, it doesn’t take any time at all to adjust to the weight of her keyblade in hand. Master’s Defender has always been heavy to her, when Aqua offered to let them hold it, but this one seems perfectly balanced for her.

 

The shadows appear to be mindless things, easy to predict and deflect once Kairi pays attention to their attack patterns. She still gets nicked here and there by their grasping claws, but due to the sheer numbers, but they’re barely scratches and easy to shrug off for the moment.

 

Kairi risks glancing over to the larger shadow and Aqua every now and then, but the Master handles herself just fine. Every now and then the sky lights up with her magic, which would normally be an inspiring sight, but now only highlights the outline of the strange orb of destruction sitting in the sky. Actually, it seems more like a black hole than an orb of destruction now, with how debris and dust keeps flowing into it on some kind of wind.

 

For a couple of amateur wielders, she figures they’re actually doing pretty well. The shadows are staved off, and Aqua seems nearly done with the bigger creature.

 

Kairi’s keyblade glimmers as she allows herself a flicker of hope, her resolve strengthening as she extends a hand and whispers a Thunder to stun the shadows in their tracks. Sora leaps in as they struggle with the paralysis, slashing enemies one after another.

 

And then the black hole descends.

 

* * *

 

The shift in gravity is subtle at first, but when it reaches its tipping point, everything comes crashing down.

 

Or crashing up, rather. Even the shadow shudders and dissipates into the pull of the darkness overhead. Aqua lowers herself instinctively, trying to remain planted on the ground, but she catches sight of Kairi and Sora fall screaming towards the void, and immediately she knows she can’t just let them go on their own.

 

If they end up where she thinks they’ll end up…

 

She leaps.

 

It’s easy, throwing herself away from the weakening earth. She hurtles through the air, snags Sora’s arm and the back of Kairi’s shirt, and pulls them close.

 

Master’s Defender thrums, caught between her fingers and Kairi’s clothes. Aqua’s had it for a decade now, but it’s never felt as alive as it does in this moment, throbbing out a steady beat alongside her heart.

 

She doesn’t dare dismiss it now; the other two lost grip of their keyblades, so this is their sole defense against the dark for now.

 

 _If you’re going to help me, then do it,_ she thinks, clutching the children against herself as the wind whips against them. They tumble through gales so turbulent she can’t hear them cry out (but she can feel them, Sora’s pulse racing wildly in terror, Kairi’s shout shuddering through her lungs), and Aqua pours every drop of willpower into Master’s Defender like she’s done thousands upon thousands of times before.

 

Like she’s seen her own Master do just once, when he came to their defense after she and Terra wandered off world in search of adventures they weren’t yet ready for, so young and fragile and frightened in a world they didn’t know how to traverse.

 

She thinks of Eraqus and his sharp, worried words, and she thinks she might be feeling how he’d felt, all those decades ago.

 

_Let me save them._

 

Master’s Defender coruscates, catching light against the shadows and flaring in defiance. Its silhouette shimmers, distorting, consumed by the brilliance.

 

And then it unfurls, swords like feathered wings sweeping over her heart, slipping from her grasp and arcing beneath her, catching her in its swelling light.

 

She may have laughed in that abyss, her arms occupied but her heart free. Ten years have passed since she last inhaled a breath untouched by salty waves, since she last saw the stars so close.

 

“About time,” she says, and the glider pierces through the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so uh I’m aggressively in denial about some things haha.
> 
> anyway we’re finally off destiny islands. whew. I kind of want/need to write other things so... we'll see how far this goes. I got a new idea so that’s really gonna wrench this thing off the rails, if I get that far.
> 
> I am in fact posting this chapter at 1:40am bc I procrastinated at least 3 assignments to burn through this and shrugs. as usual, it's not been beta'd or revised for that matter so please take it easy on me. hope ya'll enjoy and aren't crying too much about [gestures into the abyss] everything. g'night.

**Author's Note:**

> a small project to distract myself from yelling about the coming of kh3 because I'm worry about all my favorite characters!


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